ABOUT US,
The EURL-PH-DIPE consortium is led by the Univeristy of Turku (UTU) team, which has coordinated the previous ECDC pertussis networks since 2011. They possess a broad experience for pertussis related work, including EQA rounds, wet-lab training, writing manuals/reports and performing seroprevalence studies. They also have long experience with diphtheria. The UTU team consists of Qiushui He (Leader of the consortium) and Alex-Mikael Barkoff (Project coordinator). Professor Qiushui He has been leading the Finnish National Reference Laboratory for diphtheria and pertussis since 2001 and has led several ECDC networks. He has studied pertussis since 1991. Alex-Mikael Barkoff has long experience on pertussis and diphtheria related work, and has been co-coordinator and scientific secretary for the previous ECDC networks.
(Consortium leader)
(Project coordinator)
Institut Pasteur (IP) has excellent laboratory capacity and skills for both pertussis and diphtheria tasks. They are the leading laboratory in Europe for B. pertussis and C. diphtheriae typing and also for WGS analysis. They possess also long experience as members of EU networks. The IP laboratory holds ISO 15189 accreditation for diphtheria diagnostic by qPCR (tox and species ID) and for whooping cough diagnostic (IS481 and IS1001). More information of the team can be found here: https://research.pasteur.fr/en/project/european-reference-laboratory-for-public-health-on-diphtheria-and-whooping-cough/
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Sciensano (SCI) together cover pertussis and diphtheria tasks, especially diagnostic methodologies and have long experience to conduct the seroprevalence study. Both VUB and SCI are accredited by BELAC, the Belgian accreditation body. The VUB laboratory is ISO 15189:2012 accredited for medical analyses (all the clinical lab), as for instance PCR for Bordetella and ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited for environmental analyses, like Legionella in water. The SCI laboratory is ISO 15189:2012 accredited for several microbiological tests (including bacteria and viruses), and for additional genotype and molecular testing.
Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LGL) has a solid experience for diphtheria and is unquestionably the leader of most diphtheria related tasks. Further, they were nominated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Diphtheria in January, 2024. Their skill set completes the consortium expertise and covers all areas within the planned activities. The LGL laboratory is ISO 15189:2014 accredited for clinical diphtheria testing.
(Head of LGL team)
All teams in the consortium function as NRLs for pertussis and/or diphtheria. To have a consortium with this wide and versatile skill set will guarantee that all tasks will be implemented and carried out within the project timeframe. Below you can find a table summarizing the consortium members and their institutes. On the links page, you can find link to homepage of each institute.
Table 1. Consortium institutes and team members
| Institute | Persons |
|---|---|
| University of Turku (UTU, Consortium lead) | Qiushui He (Prof, MD), Consortium leader Alex-Mikael Barkoff (MSc), Project coordinator |
| Institut Pasteur (IP) | Sylvain Brisse (Prof, PhD), Head of IP team Chiara Crestani (DVM, PhD), project manager Carla Rodrigues (PhD), assistant manager Edgar Badell (PhD), researcher |
| Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LGL) | Andreas Sing (Prof, MD), Head of LGL team Anja Berger (MD), project manager |
| Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) | Eveline Van Honacker (MD), Head of VUB team Helena Martini (MSc), assistant manager Denis Pierard (professor, emeritus), scientific advisor |
| Sciensano (SCI) | Isabelle Desombere (PhD), Head of SCI team |
